The latest version of the law, which among other things provides grants to agencies that deal with victims of sexual assaults, has a nondiscrimination provision. It says that recipients may not discriminate in their hiring on the basis of “actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.” The Justice Department recently released a briefing paper on implementation of the law.

There is a limited exception for necessary “sex-specific programming.” Also, religious agencies, consistent with the Religion Freedom Restoration Act, may prefer members of their own faith in hiring. But even religious recipients may not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In that sense there will be more protection for gay and lesbian employees and job applicants than there would be under the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act that has been languishing in Congress.

For gay rights advocates, the rules for implementing the Violence Against Women Act model what they believe Congress should do when it gets around to outlawing employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But they also point to something President Obama could do by executive order: require companies with federal contracts to refrain from such discrimination.

Obama has demonstrated that he is willing to act unilaterally to protect women in the workplace. Recently he announced that he would prohibit federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their pay with one another. He also is directing the Labor Department to adopt require contractors to provide compensation data based on sex and race. Gay rights supporters ask: Why couldn’t he do the same to prohibit contractors from discriminating against gays and lesbians?

Robert M. Gates, the former U.S. Defense secretary and current Boy Scouts of America president, earlier today urged the youth organization to, essentially, grow up and allow gays to serve in leadership roles.

The U.S. Supreme Court will rule this month in Obergefell vs. Hodges, the case that could give same-sex couples across America the freedom to marry. The majority of states already have marriage equality, and the issue has lost salience for some. But the Obergefell decision still matters. In several...

Last week, UCLA geneticist and pediatrician Eric Vilain and Northwestern University psychologist Michael Bailey took to The Times' Op-Ed page to discuss the development of transgender and gender dysphoric youths. As the headline suggests, their piece was novel in that it was directed at the parents...

At Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards, Jeffrey Tambor paid respect to his cast and crew, dedicated his award and performance of Maura Pfefferman on Amazon’s “Transparent” to the transgender community and showed Hollywood what it means to be an ally.

If you happen to pay extremely close attention to internecine debates within the LGBT community, you may know that not everyone lined up in favor of pursuing marriage equality at the federal level. Much of the debate over the last decade was about strategy — avoiding backlash for premature demands,...

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Ohio case of Obergefell vs. Hodges, as well as three related cases from Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. The court is then expected to decide whether the Constitution requires states to grant gay people the same rights in marriage as...